ELYRIA — He one-upped the boss.

Stow’s Kyle Bowman defeated training partner Vince Rucci to win Sunday’s fourth annual Elyria Inland Trail Marathon in a field of 147 runners.

A part-time employee for Rucci’s Vertical Runner Shoe store in Hudson, the 26-year-old clocked a personal-record 2:44:03.4 (6:16 mile pace).

Rucci, 32, who followed in 2:47:38.8, held off Crestline’s Kevin Thomas, 35 (2:48:13.9) for second.

“It was perfect. I couldn’t complain about the weather at all,” said Bowman, a 2007 Kent State graduate and former college teammate of Elyria’s Ray Armstrong and Michael Inge. “No wind. The aid stations were sweet. It was a sweet course. Nice and flat.”

Bowman and Rucci raced stride-for-stride for the first 14 miles. Bowman broke away a mile after the race turnaround in Kipton. The race started and finished from Murray Ridge Center on Elyria’s west side and followed the North Coast Inland Trail.

“I missed a water stop at mile marker 14. It killed me,” said Rucci. “I needed it. I screwed it up. I was trying to play catch-up the rest of the time.”

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Sunday’s race was a personal best Bowman (by 10 minutes), who has competed in five races, marathon-length or better, in his career. His resume includes two 50Ks, another marathon and a 50-miler.

Rucci has competed in 50 races, marathon-length or better. This season alone he’s competed in a 50-miler, four 50Ks and three marathons including the Inland. He has two career 100-milers.

Rucci started his marathon career in a “backwards” way. He first began running the ultimate distance back in 2000. He raced two 50Ks and a 100-miler before competing in his first marathon. He’s also a race director for several Ohio races, including the inaugural Bobcat Trail Marathon which will be held next Sunday near Athens.

A native of Brookville near Dayton, Bowman’s running career for Kent State was plagued by injuries, mostly from
over-training. He clocked a 4:17.07 for the mile and 8:44.91 for the 3,000-meter steeplechase in college.

He’s still trying to determine his action plan for post-college career.

“I train with a lot of employees from Vertical Runner, many who are ultra marathon-type runners,” said Bowman, who also does accounting and finance work for Pro Forma. “That’s where I’m pushing the body and see how I do.”

Sara Skilliter, a 37-year-old physical therapist and a mother of two from Holland, near Toledo, set a women’s course record with a time of 3:05:04.5 (7:04 mile pace). She broke the 2006 record of 3:15:17 held by Hudson’s Sarah Windham.

Skilliter ran the Columbus Marathon on Oct. 17 in 3:13:15.

“It wasn’t originally planned this way (two marathons in two weeks),” said Skilliter, who finished 11th overall. “It wasn’t until we knew that the weather was going to be good that I decided to do it. I felt very good today.”

Skilliter negative split the second half of the race, running the first half in 1:34 and second in 1:30.

Where did that extra speed come from?

“God above,” Skilliter said. “This is the first time I’ve ever negative split the second half of a marathon. I was hoping to run 3:10 today, so this is a pleasant surprise.”

Skilliter caught the racing kick four years ago, first with triathlons and then the half-marathon.

Two masters athletes finished in the next two spots in the women’s division: Pepper Pike’s Eileen Meisler, 46 (3:20:23.3) and Middleburg Heights’ Sue Ottogalli, 42 (3:24:18.2). Ottogalli was coming back after dropping out of the Baltimore Marathon at mile 14 on Oct. 10.

Two former area high school coaches had solid performances within their age groups.

Former Keystone coach Don Luscher, 53, won the 50-54 category (3:04.44.5) and was 10th overall. North Ridgeville’s Bill Robb, 47, former Brookside, Avon and Lorain coach, was third in the 45-49 category (3:17:59.8, 20th overall), his first marathon in three years.

“Things went great, especially the second half of the race,” said Luscher. “I averaged 7:03 to 7:08 per mile the first half and 6:52 to 6:55 the second half. I didn’t feel good until mile No. 12. When I starting running sub 7-minute miles is when I seemed to shake off all the cobwebs.”

“I’ve run 46 marathons in my career, but this was my first one since 2006 because of injuries,” said Robb, a teacher at the Grafton Correctional Institute. “I’ve been plagued with hamstring injuries the last couple of years. My goal today was to get to the starting line and finish it. Things went very well. It felt like I was starting over. I’m looking forward to the Cleveland Marathon in the spring.”

A total of 160 runners competed in the half marathon event, won by Cleveland’s Fred Kieser, 38, in a course-record time of 1:09:50.2. Cleveland Heights’ Emily Folds, 27, took the women’s title (1:28:13.2).

Marathon

Male — Overall

1. Kyle Bowman, age 26 (Stow), 2:44:03.4.
2. Vince Rucci, 32 (Stow), 2:47:38.8.
3. Kevin Thomas, 35 (Crestline), 2:48:13.9.

Age group results

• 20-24: 1. Jim Cooper, 3:00:05.7.
• 25-29: 1. Cory Fulmer, 2:54:31.0; 2. Matt Frahm, 3:05:51.0; 3. Mark McClain, 3:09:18.0.
• 30-34: 1. Oliver Cullis, 3:36:55.3; 2. Jeremy Rumpf, 3:47:08.7; 3. Steve Spalding, 3:48:04.7.
• 35-39: 1. Dave Giammar, 2:48:38.4; 2. Mark Ott, 2:54:17.2; 3. Charles Kreger, 3:05:39.1.
• 40-44: 1. Randy Crowder, 3:04:05.0; 2. Alan Willford, 3:14.44.6; 3. Stephan Kremer, 3:20:48.1.
• 45-49: 1. Terry Watt, 2:49:10.1; 2. Peter Cooper, 3:07:48.3; 3. Bill Robb, 3:17:59.8.
• 50-54: 1. Don Luscher, 3:04:44.5; 2. Dean Rippee, 3:18:30.4; 3. Leslie Perry, 3:22:10.4.
• 55-59: 1. Dan Horvath, 3:20:34.0; 2. Brian Freeman, 3:21:32.3; 3. Tom Kilcourse, 3:27:59.8.
• 60-64: 1. Bob Clark, 3:53:57.3. 65-69: 1. Jack Reilly, 3:42:37.8; 2. Gary Bell, 3:55:33.0.
• 70 and older: 1. Don Siefers, 4:08:14.5.

Female — Overall

1. Sara Skilliter, 37 (Holland, Ohio), 3:05:04.4.
2. Eileen Meisler, 46 (Pepper Pike), 3:20:23.3.
3. Sue Ottogalli, 42 (Middleburg Heights), 3:24:18.2.

Age group results

• 20-24: 1. Laura Yecchak, 4:09:36.9; 2. Sue Rebrovich, 4:32:23.2.
• 25-29: 1. Erin Sykes, 3:40:01.1; 2. Elizabeth Ference, 3:44:38.9; 3. Katie Sullivan, 3:47:05.5.
• 30-34: 1. Becca Bontadelli, 3:35:52.9; 2. Kristina Zahniser, 3:39:51.0; 3. Kelly Mendelson, 3:52:49.8.
• 35-39: 1. Amy May, 3:30:15.9; 2. Kari Green, 4:07:54.0; 3. Marti Stuedle, 4:11:47.5.
• 40-44: 1. Marilyn Fisher, 3:45:38.1; 2. Helen Garen, 3:55:17.9; 3. Tara Scott, 3:57:19.2.
• 45-49: 1. Sue Bohinski, 3:49:53.7; 2. Sonya Presper, 4:04:29.9; 3. Joanna Brell, 4:12:54.8.
• 50-54: 1. Debra Horn, 3:50:29.4; 2. Diane Treier, 4:03.52.6; 3. Kathleen Teuscher, 4:16:34.7.
• 55-59: none. 60-64: 1. Jeannie Rice, 3:47:09.5.

Half marathon

Male — overall

1. Fred Kieser, 38 (Cleveland), 1:09:50.2.
2. Jason Zangmeister, 23 (Fairview Park), 1:20:17.6.
3. Brian Forester (Cabot, Pa.), 1:20:40.6.

Age group results

• 10 and younger: 1. Nathan Tokarsky, 2:13:53.4; 2. Sam Tokarsky, 2:14:38.1.
• 15-19: 1. Alex Truux, 1:23:23.3; 2. Travis Simoncic, 1:35:13.0; 3. Tim Galla, 1:36:15.12.
• 20-24: 1. Austin Azzaretti, 1:37:54.3; 2. Brian Reynolds, 1:51:00.9; 3. John Pogatschnik, 1:52:14.7.
• 30-34: 1. Rocky Stevenson, 1:31:14.7; 2. Mike Mullins. 1:34:26.8; 3. Keith Landis, 1:36:18.9.
• 35-39: 1. Llody Thomas, 1:21:52.9; 2. Mike Blaszak, 1:26:29.3; 3. Randy Osborne, 1:29:43.3.
• 40-44: 1. Dave Orosz, 1:26:55.2; 2. Eric Gibb, 1:34:57.1; 3. Matt Willard, 1:45:53.9.
• 45-49: 1. Joe Vishey, 1:27:58.5; 2. Robert Browning, 1:32:54.6; 3. Jim O’Connor, 1:38:10.0.
• 50-54: 1. Rich Makin, 1:24:08.0; 2. Dale Wolfe, 1:38:10.0.
• 55-59: 1. Dennis Bahnsen, 1:42:12.1; 2. Paul Loescher, 1:46:37.5; 3. Jeff Yingling, 1:55:38.5.
• 60-64: 1. Greg Doyle, 2:11:01.1. 65-69: 1. Dale Sherry, 1:57:20.8; 2. Harold Babbit, 2:38:16.0.
• 70 and older: 1. Jim Mackert, 2:18:34.5.
• Clydesdale: 1. Mike Hoppinger, 1:49:46.1; 2. Jim Antonczak, 1:55:16.7; 3. Paul Kenosky, 1:58:07.1.

Female — overall

1. Emily Foldes, 27 (Cleveland Heights), 1:28:13.2.
2. Megan Feran (Columbus), 1:32:05.4.
3. Jennifer Kuhel, 34 (Shaker Heights), 1:36:07.3.

Age group results

• 15-19: 1. Rachel Bauer, 1:55:44.9.
• 20-24: 1. Lori Lewis, 1:56:51.9; 2. Stacie Fay, 2:05:22.3; 3. Hannah Weigl, 2:18:21.2.
• 25-29: 1. Molly Stout, 1:45:22.9; 2. Cassandra Pogatschnik, 1:45:56.1; 3. Greta Dishong, 1:50.12.
• 30-34: 1. Lisa Hoffman, 1:50.22.5; 2. Leah Lacrosse, 1:56:21.3; 3. Leslie Ungerott, 1:59:55.4.
• 35-39: 1. Janna Mutum, 1:41:41.0; 2. Colleen Tedwards, 1:46:12.0; 3. Angela Ridgel, 1:46:17.6.
• 40-44: 1. Liz Ferro, 1:44:10.2; 2. Patricia Feran, 1:51:55.3; 3. Jim Ebenstein, 1:53:14.5.
• 45-49: 1. Karyn Seeger, 1:53:30.5; 2. Janet Hunnius, 1:56:59.5; 2. 3. Ann McGuire, 2:00:59.3.
• 50-54: 1. Tina Hoban, 1:56:53.8; 2. Jean Budowanec, 1:59:36.5; 3. Kris Hilty, 2:02.4.
• 60-64: 1. Pati Habenicht, 2:03:18.8.
• Athena: 1. Kristen Falk, 1:42:47.0; 2. Amy Streza, 2:07:39.7; 3. Stori Miller, 2:19:06.7.

5-K

Male — overall

1. Steve Benesh, age 29, 16:33.6.
2. Ryan Dunn, 19, 18:57.3.
3. Randy Barnhart, 47, 20:31.2.
4. John Syrowski, 51, 20:41.5.
5. Charles Howe, 52, 20:47.9.

Female — overall

1. Gina Warnke, age 36, 20:56.1.
2. Kelly Staruch, 24, 21:46.9.
3. Chelsea Dunn, 17, 25:03.7.
4. Laura Allan, 17, 26:47.6.
5. Kasi Mokitrick, 51, 27:14.1.

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